Across The Great Sandy

The gary junction road strikes through the heart of the great sandy desert, and it’s an epic drive.

- Ron And Viv Moon

We turned off the road onto what was not much more than a couple of wheel marks across the bare sand. As we got closer to our planned destination I scanned ahead, keenly looking for the object of our desires. A red dune blocked our way with the two-wheel marks heading over it, while the Hema Navigator was indicating the spot we were searching for was before the dune crossing; but I was darned if I could see it.

Willie Rockhole appeared suddenly and almost unexpectedly on the bare plain we had been travelling across. I was anticipating a pile or small hill of natural rock where a rock hole or, more correctly, a gnamma hole, would be found somewhere on its surface. Willie Rockhole was different to that, with the flat rock surface almost completely buried under a veneer of red sand which, on closer inspection, proved to cover quite an area and formed quite a large catchment for the gnamma holes that collected the precious water. Only one of the three rockholes here had water in it, though, and that was the smallest of the group. The largest one, although nearly filled with sand, had wet sand once you dug down a little; and more water could have been obtained, I’m sure.

Later that day I found another gnamma hole, this one on a low hill of rock where a rock lid, or cap stone, could be dragged across the cavity to stop the precious liquid from evaporating so quickly in this dry desert climate. These isolated treasures were the lifeblood for the wandering bands of local Aboriginal people, their location told in stories handed down over generations. Later, explorers and pioneer graziers relied on them for their journeys of discovery, while today nearly all are unused and forgotten about.